A lot can change in 12 months—just ask Corey Horsburgh.
This time last year, the fiery red head from Caboolture had endured a difficult season in the nation’s capital, requesting to be released from a Raiders contract that still had three seasons to run.
While amongst the Green Machine’s best forwards in 2023, Horsburgh had struggled with discipline and consistency throughout 2024 and found himself out of favour playing in NSW Cup.
After a breakdown in his relationship with head coach Ricky Stuart, the 27-year-old believed his flagging NRL future lay elsewhere with strong rumours of a move to the Wests Tigers.
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“I didn’t think I’d play again for the Raiders, to be honest,” Horsburgh told the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year.
“No one was talking to me, I stopped trying at training, got a bit fatter than usual.
“I’m a stubborn person, (Ricky) is a stubborn person, and we just stopped talking.”
But as history now shows, the two did start talking again and Horsburgh’s release never eventuated.
‘The world’s weird and we’re sitting pretty’ says Corey Horsburgh
Instead of leaving the club where he has spent all but two matches of his NRL career (he was loaned to the Bulldogs for a short playing stint in 2021), Horsburgh started working through his issues with a therapist, something he credits as helping to re-energise his career.
“It was good to identify the problems and negatives, move forward and get better,” he admits.
He lifted his training intensity, he lost weight, and before long his playing form began to return to the levels that saw him selected for Queensland back in 2023.
Fast forward 12 months and it’s been quite a renaissance.
Horsburgh has started in all but one game for Ricky Stuart this season after appearing just five times in 2024 as the Raiders narrowly missed the top eight.
The man affectionately known as ‘Big Red’ certainly gets the irony as the 2025 NRL finals series fast approaches with the high-flying Raiders assured of two home matches.
“We wouldn’t know what would happen if I didn’t (request a release last year),” Horsburgh joked to the Canberra Times.
“The world’s weird and I’m here now, we’re sitting pretty—so I’m a happy man.”
Horsburgh and the Raiders host the club he may well have joined, Wests Tigers, in Round 26 at GIO Stadium where victory will deliver the club its first minor premiership in 35 years.